On Demand movie highlights

Share via e-mail

(Comcast Movie Collections: Just In) A cluttered, formulaic urban thriller, with Mark Wahlberg miscast as a conflicted tough-guy detective caught in an election week conspiracy. The best thing here — i.e., the most enjoyably bad — is Russell Crowe as a greasy, macho New York City mayor. He’s Michael Bloomberg’s evil twin. With Catherine Zeta-Jones and Jeffrey Wright. (R; runs through Sept. 24)

SILVER LININGS PLAYBOOK ★★★½

(Comcast Movie Collections: Just In) Bradley Cooper finally gets a role that gives his oily charm some vulnerability. He plays a mental patient living in Philadelphia with his parents, hung up on his estranged wife and spending time with an equally unstable woman (Jennifer Lawrence). The movie whizzes and stings. Its director is David O. Russell, who’s become Hollywood’s most instinctive maker of ensemble dramatic comedies. With a never-haler Robert De Niro as Cooper’s gambler dad. (R; runs through Sept. 29)

MOST WANTED ★★★(Comcast Free Movies) Better-than-average action thriller, freshened by Keenen Ivory Wayans as a fugitive Marine sharpshooter framed for the assassination of the first lady. Juicy turns by Paul Sorvino as an unflappable CIA chief and by Jon Voight as a maniacal renegade general, brandishing a cracker accent. (R; runs through Nov. 14)